A commentary on rabbinic texts and toxicality

October 03, 2005

Judges and judgments in the news. Tom DeLay indicted. A new Supreme Court Chief Justice sworn in, effectively ending the chance for a Rehnquist Memorial Amnesty inspired by Biblical law. A Rosh Yeshiva resigns because he violates Jewish law (i.e., the law against homosexual activity).

In Israel, a convicted forger refuses to resign as a judge. She also destroyed court documents. (Am I missing something here?!) Judge Hila Cohen, at least you've got chutzpah. "Your hands are sullied with blood and your fingers with sin" (Isaiah 59), the Talmud (bShab 139a) assigns this verse to corrupt judges and court scribes.

The same Talmud page teaches that it is permissible to teach boorish judges a less sophisticated form of The Law. In other words, if you aren't educated, you are in no position to take advantage of the leniencies of the erudite. So, there is one law for the unlearned, like the "Bashkarians", and a more comprehensive law for Bnei Torah, i.e. scholars of rabbinic law. In jurisprudence, this is the difference between law for the judges and law for the masses. I wonder if it also might shed light on R. Moshe Feinstein's 1981 responsum on smoking, in which he argues that smoking is permissible because "The Lord preserves the simple" (shomer peta'im HaShem) but that Bnei Torah shouldn't get addicted or let their children smoke.

Finally, judgment will come for the Red Sox. Saved by the last game of the season, the Red Sox face the White Sox. Repent all ye sinners in Red Sox Nation, else we will be wearing white -- the pure color of the High Holy-Days -- this week.

September 04, 2005

No child left behind... unless they were among the poor and/or black of New Orleans. Am I being too harsh? Due to a muddle of prejudice, incompetence and systemic disregard for the underclass, the response of our government is shameful. In its urgent charitable work and political response, the Jewish community ought not overlook the injustice(s) at work.

"Hurricane Katrina pulled back the curtain, exposing the things many knew existed and even more wished not to acknowledge: race, class, privilege, cavernous health and income disparities; poverty amidst opulence..." (Effect Measure)

The Commons: "60 percent of New Orleans residents are black, but it has been little noted that a third of those black families do not own a car -- nor do 15 percent of white families. It is these people who were left behind when those with cars evacuated."

"We all have seen over the years images depicting the horrors faced by refugees in third world countries. But the images of people in our own country, rich as it is in so many ways, without any food or water for days, using the floor as toilets, sitting among rotting cadavers, or women with infants (in one report I read) being given two diapers and told to scrape them off and reuse them, are hard to accept.

[... This] not only raises questions about how we treat the poor among us, but forces us to confront some difficult issues about race in this country. Ann Althouse asks over on her blog, "Were the provisions for flood prevention and for evacuation and shelter so inadequate because mostly black people were affected? Would the rescues have come more quickly if the victims were white? Would viewers and reporters express more utrage at the pace of relief if we were seeing white victims?" Good questions." From Susan Stabile at Mirror of Justice (Catholic legal theory blog)

Why the foot-dragging, why the dreadful responsiveness to those who were left behind?

Arguably, BusinessWeek noted, the Bush Administration had us "mistakenly lulled into thinking" that terrorism is the most urgent threat. Homeland Security? (Dubious public health measures?) Perhaps hurricane Katrina will wake us up. Too many people are threatened at home by economic and social injustice, by environmental and health risks, by political invisibility. Hurricane or not, their vulnerability is real. In a world of complex risks, it is our responsibility not to get too distracted.

Certainly, the resourceful Jewish community should be taking care of our own displaced families and children. At the same time, I suggest that our tzedakah (charity) also reach those with far less resources, who are most exposed in a structural economy of prejudice and uncertainty.

September 02, 2005

Is "looting" permitted under Jewish law (halakhah) after a disaster? I received this email:

I think a strong argument can be made that according to Jewish law, one can violate most laws in order to save one's life (except for the big 3--idolatry, murder, illicit sexual relationships) as the key is v'chai bahem [i.e., you shall live by the commandments -- K]. It seems that for some of the people, they have reached that state of desperation. Whether the situation is so dire that looting and stealing is justified would probably depend case by case.

This email then correctly cites Talmud Sanhedrin 74a and an article at J-Law "Stealing To Save Someone's Life" by Charles J. Harary, Esq. The article's conclusion doesn't do justice to its thorough halakhic analysis, but here is the bottom line:

In conclusion, the dominant view in Jewish law follows the Shulchan Aruch and the Rambam, which allows a person to steal or damage property of another to save his own life. Thus, one may break in to the house of another, or steal insulin if that was necessary to save his life. However, such a person must compensate the owner of the property.

The Jlaw.com article also compares Jewish law to Anglo- American law on stealing to save a life.

[I also wonder whether Jewish law might allow the taking of food and other perishable goods, which have been de facto abandoned by the owners (ye-ush). However, abandonment (ye-ush) usually cannot take effect unless the goods are outside of the possession (reshut) of the owner.]

This post does not refer to any specific cases of taking or stealing due to the Katrina hurricane and disaster. Certainly, Jewish law condemns indiscriminate theft and looting. Still, I agree that Jewish law may readily condone situations where people are in doubt about feeding and otherwise caring for themselves and their family. The situation in New Orleans is quite shocking.* Prayers...

Kaspit

* See the agonizing Times-Picayune editorial that "Hurricane Katrina has created a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable proportions."

Is the suffering brought about by Katrina distributed evenly in our society? I received this email: "In the Boston Globe sports section today, Bob Ryan made a chilling comment:

I fully realize that there were always two New Orleans, the one I and other tourists saw, and the other New Orleans, the one inhabited by the thousands of poor people, mostly of color. Judging from the shots we see of those who were herded into the Superdome, the white people mostly managed to get out. The others weren’t so fortunate.

Shouldn’t we be guided by the Talmud’s direction not to build a tannery in the city? Isn’t this exactly what we’ve done in New Orleans -- at least for the people who don’t have the means to get out when a catastrophic event hits?" -- sent by an anonymous reader, thanks.

I do sense that the poor and people of color are most likely to not be properly evacuated. Along with sick and elderly, they may lack the money and/or vehicles to leave. Furthermore, they may have less means to cope with the hurricane's aftermath.

Blacks may also be portrayed by the media as "looting" rather than coping with a desperate situation. See Ben's telling photos at Hungry Blues.

This disaster also makes it difficult for people to get their drugs, whether meds for mental health or narcotics. (Plus, more stress for caffeine and nicotine addicts). Not certain how the pharmacolization of society is distributed, but again the poor are disadvantaged.

As Ulrich Beck wrote in Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity:

Some people are more affected than others by the distribution and growth of risks, that is, social risk positions spring up. In some of their dimensions these follow the inequalities of class and strata positions, but they bring a fundamentally different logic [than wealth] into play. Risks of modernization sooner or later also strike those who produce or profit from them. They contain a boomerang effect, which breaks up the patter of class and national society." p23 trans.Ritter

Beck points out the complexity of social justice. In a natural catastrophe, like Katrina, a wide swath of people are harmed. Certainly, many wealthy folks will suffer physically and economically. The boomerang strikes those invested in the development of New Orleans, Biloxi etc, in the concentrated petro-chemical industries of the region. Nevertheless, before the boomerang, hurricane Katrina strikes hardest and first at the poor and disadvantaged. In a risk society like ours, social justice issues may be more obscure and difficult to ferret out.

Kaspit

Also writing about the poor and/or people of color: Larry James and J-wild. Jack Shafer in Slate. Larry James writes: "Hurricane Katrina ravaged the poor. Almost 30% of the population of New Orleans lived below the national poverty line before she hit. As is usually the case, the poorest citizens in the city lived in the worst places in terms of vulnerability to a storm like Katrina. .... Politicians and preachers take to the stages of America to pray and to pronounce. The following day the poor continue to suffer.
Just once I wish we were honest enough to link this call and its promise to our out-of-control materialism, to our systemic national injustices and to our failure to care for the weakest among us."

A word of caution. The right-to-know law’s specifics will be left up to Israel’s environmental ministry. The ministry has six months to propose regulations. Israel’s environmental minister, Shalom Simhon, knows how to play political hardball. Will Simhon issue strong regulations to give Israelis an effective right-to-know about toxic materials? Or will the freedom of information rules be saddled by loopholes etc?

Kudos to the Jewish (and Arab and Druze) activists who pioneered the new toxics law, the Citizens For the Environment (CFE) in the Galilee, directed by Liora Aharon. Email CFE your congratulations, send them a donation, and urge them to keep the pressure on the environmental ministry to promulgate a strong right-to-know law.

Kol tuv,

Kaspit

PS Besides writing 3 linked articles above, Zafrir Rinat, the environmental reporter for Ha’aretz, also gives us an update on a lawsuit to clean up the toxic Yarkon River.

UPDATE: The language of Israel's new environmental information law is indeed broad and vague:

Thanks to the Sagit Porat of the Israeli Life & Environment coalition, below is the Hebrew text of the gist of the new law. (Full text here.) It requires the public authority (the environment ministry) to publish on its website (and in other ways as the Minister's will set up). It stipulates that "environmental information [includes] information on released, spilled, emitted and discharged substances and the results of smoke, odor and radiation measurements, not in the private domain." Porat says that "includes" was discussed in committee, omitted from the text, and will (hopefully) be reinserted.

July 28, 2005

Between the AFL-CIO split and the Gaza disengagement, it’s a bit wrenching to be a Jewish labor type. With at least one prominent Jew (SEIU President Andy Stern) involved in the AFL-CIO split-up, it’s not surprising to learn about an ugly undercurrent of anti-semitism. Thankfully, though not surprisingly, his labor union opponents -- like Rick Sloan (IAM) -- strongly condemn anti-semitism and other hate speech. Rick wrote:

There are lots of valid reasons to oppose what Andy Stern and his allies want to do within the AFL-CIO. But the most grotesque reason cited on this blog is the fact that Andy Stern is Jewish. Anti-Semitism has absolutely no place in the American Labor Movement. None. Ours is a movement built over more than a century, a movement built by the brains and brawn and deeply held beliefs of millions of Jewish workers. Hopefully, their contributions to what we have today will be respected and valued.

And while we are at it, we should respect and value the pantheon of exceptional Jewish labor leaders -- Sidney Hillman, Al Shanker, Andrew Stern and so many others - who fought (and still fight) for a better life for their members. Hopefully, in this new century, new names will be added to that pantheon.

As the IAM's Communications Director, I will use every tool in our toolbox to oppose what Andy Stern, Jim Hoffa, Bruce Raynor and John Wilhelm are trying to do at the AFL-CIO. To me and to thousands of Machinists Union members, the stakes for the American Labor Movement are high and growing higher. But nothing, absolutely nothing, justifies such a vile attack and it must be condemned it in the strongest possible terms. As trade unionists, let us put aside our differences and stand shoulder to shoulder with Andy Stern on this. After all, an injury to one is an injury to all. (5/12/05)

This is exactly what must be spoken: solidarity even in disengagement. Yasher koach!

Since I'm reading about work in tractate Shabbat, I want to blog about Jews and the labor movement. Plus, thanks to my friend Jordan Barab at Confined Space for the strong plug.

July 02, 2005

I’m still wondering about the nexus between Jewish preference for white consumer products and the construction of racial “whiteness”. Following up on a post about whiteness and a Talmudic text, I would appreciate help with this question:

To what extent does consumer demand for product whiteness draw upon or feed into the general privileging of racial “whiteness”? Bleached white products include writing paper, tampons, diapers and clothing.

There should be some analysis out there. Weren’t the racial aspects of “whiteness” brought up in the environmental debates, for instance, over the chlorine bleaching of paper products? After all, it’s much easier to reduce chlorine usage if paper and other products don’t need to be so bright and white. Chlorine use is problematic due to chemical accident risks and toxic (organochlorine) pollution.

Let me know if you know of any analysis or leads on this topic. Thanks, Kol tuv,

Kaspit

P.S. Questions outside my bailiwick: What is the history of Jews accommodating or resisting their identification with racial “whiteness”? What do we learn from this history? The comments here suggest (a) ancient origins of a Jewish self-conception of whiteness, and (b) a modern, racial construction of whiteness as an aspect of Jewish identity. The sources cited below may be helpful with further analysis. Your comments, insights and sources would be welcome. Sources to help w/th

Dr. Davis recalls Clarence Thomas from when he was chief legal counsel to Senator Danforth (at right). Thomas lent support in 1980 to the Superfund clean-up law (CERCLA), designed for communities threatened by hazardous waste sites. Thomas was especially helpful after an attack by the chemical industry fronted by the DC law firm Covington and Burling. She writes:

"All 100 Senators had received a detailed memo from the law firm of Covington and Burling that alleged that our report on human health damage from toxics was fatally flawed. … Clarence Thomas was one of those who cared a great deal about this issue. He spoke quietly about his own understanding of pollution in African American communities. .… in November, 1980, I was called back to meet with Senators and staff in a flurry of activities aimed at convincing the new government to accept the proposed Superfund Law. The law's sponsors believed that this major new act would provide for massive funding needed to clean up sites such as Triana* and Times Beach, by taxing those polluters with what were called the deepest pockets-those with the most money left. Whatever objections the legal memo had been believed to carry about our research on compensation for victims of toxic pollution seemed to vaporize. The Superfund law passed only after those like Senator Danforth and Clarence Thomas advised the incoming president's newly forming staff that this law would be better than what else they could end up with later on." (emphasis added)

Dr. Davis also discloses how, a decade later, she accidentally met the chemical industry lobbyist behind the Covington and Burling memo: "Ed Frost, former Vice President of the Chemical Manufacturer's Association, the very fellow who had commissioned the Covington and Burling memo on our study. …" said to me:

"Listen, I really owe you an apology. My daughter has convinced me that we need to do better on these things. I know that we should not have been so heavy handed in going after that report you all did on toxic pollution in those communities. You guys did a pretty decent job on a hard topic. But that was just how the game was played, you know." (emphasis added)

Ok, now I need to return to daf yomi (Talmud study). The rabbinic text seems completely unrelated to the stories above about corporate lobbying on toxic pollution. Still, there may be an odd metaphorical connection. We're reading about shabbat as a day of rest for animals, too. So, can various animals be let out in public tightly leashed, restrained in a halter, with its udders tied up, put under a saddle? This discussion makes me wonder:

What happens to people like Clarence Thomas, Ed Frost and each of us, how do we act privately and how do we act after we are leashed to new jobs, e.g., Supreme Court Justice or corporate lobbyist? Comments welcome.

* Robert Bullard on Triana: " 'Black Love Canals' exist and many go unnoticed. A case in point is the contamination of Triana, a small, all-black town in northern Alabama. .. Some of the residents were contaminated with the highest levels of DDT ever recorded." Read more here. Thomas/Danforth photo: source.